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Fusion reactor design

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The design of devices that use powerful magnetic fields to control plasma so fusion can take place. The most widely used magnetic confinement device is the tokamak, followed by the stellarator.

Plasma physics award won by PPPL postdoctoral fellow for novel approach to designing coils for fusion energy

Caoxiang Zhu, a postdoctoral researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has won the 2018 CAI Shidong Award for plasma physics in China. His research describes a computer code that Zhu developed with the help of PPPL physicists that takes a novel approach to designing the complex magnetic coils that confine plasma in fusion devices called stellarators, which are focused on one day creating energy using the process that powers the sun and the stars. 

Energy Secretary Rick Perry cheers on fusion energy, science education at PPPL

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory’s (PPPL) mission of doing research to develop fusion as a viable source of energy is vital to the future of the planet, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said during an Aug. 9 visit. 

“It’s important not just to PPPL, not just to the DOE (Department of Energy) but to the world,” Perry told staff members during an all-hands meeting. “If we’re able to deliver fusion energy to the world, we’re able to change the world forever.” 

PPPL diagnostic is key to world record of German fusion experiment

When Germany’s Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) fusion facility set a world record for stellarators recently, a finely tuned instrument built and delivered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) proved the achievement. The record strongly suggests that the design of the stellarator can be developed to capture on Earth the fusion that drives the sun and stars, creating “a star in a jar” to generate a virtually unlimited supply of electric energy.

Advances in plasma and fusion science are described in Quest, PPPL’s research magazine

From analyzing solar flares to pursuing “a star in a jar” to produce virtually limitless electric power, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have developed insights and discoveries over the past year that advance understanding of the universe and the prospect for safe, clean, and abundant energy for all humankind.

Advances in plasma and fusion science are described in Quest, PPPL’s research magazine

From analyzing solar flares to pursuing “a star in a jar” to produce virtually limitless electric power, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have developed insights and discoveries over the past year that advance understanding of the universe and the prospect for safe, clean, and abundant energy for all humankind.

PPPL physicists aim to unlock mysteries of fusion with Early Career Research awards

Physicists Dr. Nate Ferraro and Dr. Sam Lazerson of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have each won 2018 Early Career Research Program awards sponsored by the DOE Office of Science. The two five-year awards will fund PPPL research that could lead to development of the best designs for doughnut-shaped tokamaks and twisty stellarators — the main magnetic-bottles employed worldwide in the effort to produce virtually inexhaustible fusion power on Earth using the reactions that drive the sun and stars.

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